Cool and damp. Clear and warm later. Heavy dew yesterday morning and I expect the same today. Otherwise, another great Fall day.
I did some auction stuff in the morning, but mostly office stuff. Then I spent too long changing out the diverter handle for the shower in the Master Bath. The old metal one finally failed and the knob broke off in a razor sharp edge. I had 4 different replacement knobs in the stacks. The “universal” one fit after some mods with a saw. Old plumbing is sometimes a real pain to maintain. Especially when the tools you need are at your other house.
Eventually I got out of the house to do two pickups at the same auctioneer, and to see my selling auctioneer after that. He’s not ready for my stuff yet. I did spend some time talking with one of his staff ladies- she was carjacked at gunpoint in her own driveway two months ago. 11pm, she was getting stuff out of the passenger side when two youths came up on her, held her up, and stole her car. The car was recovered within a few hours, but she’s still messed up about it. She has had a hard time leaving the house, especially after dark.
Your zip code won’t protect you. You have to be aware of your surroundings and be able to do something about it if there is a problem. She got lucky and they wanted the car more than they wanted to shoot her. One was only 17 yo. The other, with the gun, had 3 prior arrests for aggravated assault and was still on the street. And he’s back out again, looking for his next victim. There are lots of guys like him out there.
As the world situation deteriorates, personal security will be more and more of an issue. Take steps now. Build good habits now.
————-
Today I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting. We’ll be planning the Christmas party and having our quarterly swapmeet/sale. Afterwards, I will probably head to the BOL. Wife and daughters went up last night with the dog, very late. I’ve got a truck load of stuff to get up there, and I’m sure there are a million things for me to do.
There are 1M things here as well. I guess we’ll see how I feel about the driving before I decide.
There is always something.
And always stacking.
nick
Have a beautiful Saturday, everyone! It’s another cracker of a Autumn/Winter day here.
Hobby horse demonstrations, swaps, and practice for the national championship. Inspirational!
I’ve mentioned that we live in a swank, high-priced neighborhood.* It’s an easy drive to Albany, two interstates plus a road network, where many of the neighbors work. It’s also an easy drive from Albany up here. We’ve seen an increasing number of cars filled with “urban youths” cruising slowly through the cul de sac. There’ve also been a lot more thefts from garages, thefts of items left in yards, and so on. No armed robberies yet, but I figure it’s a matter of time.
I don’t leave the property without equipment. I’m wondering if I need to stay equipped when working in the yard.
* Not my choice. I’m still a hillbilly at heart. My wife bought this house, largely with my money in the joint account, while I was working out of state. She’s from a top-1% Chinese family and her sensible, economical tastes disappeared as soon as she had two incomes at her disposal after our marriage.
EDIT: Curses! If I hadn’t fat-fingered my comment and had to edit, I’d have been FIRST POST today. But I’ll get you, Denis! And your little dog, too!
LaserJet 4 drums are unobtainium since the Pandemic kabuki.
If you are an “NCIS” completist, Mark Harmon will be back in character as Gibbs on screen for the first time in four years in the upcoming crossover episode between “Origins” and the mothership show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZfvYYKd-rw
Ted Nugent.
The first rock song Johnny Fever plays on the “WKRP in Cincinnati” pilot is “Queen of the Forest”.
No Number One Son in the family?
If there is one, how did you get saddled with “ama”?
She (and my wife’s father, but he died years ago) came to help with The Child when she was a baby, or rather before she was even born. The Child is about 17 years younger than the next-youngest cousin, so Grandma wasn’t needed by any other families.
And, as I’ve mentioned before, until the last couple years, Grandma wasn’t a burden at all. She helped with the sons when they were too young to be home alone* and was a huge help with the baby, later toddler and she kept herself busy with the garden and going for long walks with other Chinese grannies in the area. It’s only since she (and my wife) got the clot shots that she’s been unable to care even for herself.
* By today’s Karen-infested standards. By that age I was already watching my younger siblings, but the Karens call 9-1-1 if they realize a 12-year-old is home by himself. Now, I’m not saying that buttinsky suburban scum should all be drowned, but I am saying that the world would be a better place if they were.
Today’s Tyler Durden cowardice covers the Monkey Trick and associated “circle jerk” business model keeping the S&P elevated through a handful (no pun intended) of stocks.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/sam-altman-denies-openai-needs-government-bailout-he-just-wants-massive-government
Its all about them jerbs, son. Gotta have them jerbs.
Someone has massive new building under construction on my commute route to/from work. At first, I thought it was just another Amazon warehouse wannabe that dominate the commercial districts in this end of Austin as of late, but the infrastructure is way too complicated.
When we were in WA State, we came under tremendous pressure to move “ama” in with us without any preconditions.
My wife and I certainly could have used the help, but “ama” wanted no part of actually contributing to the household either with labor or money.
No thanks. At the time, I resorted to selling things on EBay to keep a roof over our heads, and the old lady wanted to move in with us so she could continue to use her income to support my sister-in-law’s 40 year adolescence and gamble.
From the alt.wesley.crusher.die.die.die desk:
https://www.the-independent.com/life-style/lego-star-trek-uss-enterprise-d-b2861107.html
I could live without the ship, but I want all of the minifigs, even Whoopi’s.
Where is John de Lancie as Q?
That’s the most glaring omission. Q bookended the entire series, even if the third season of “Picard” is canon.
Shiny.
Holding out for more credits?
I remember when Jonathan “Dr. Smith” Harris was asked to make a cameo in the Lost In Space movie, he responded he would appear only in a major role in the movie befitting someone of his thespian ability. He didn’t get a cameo.
Yet he showed up to do voice work on “A Bug’s Life”, the “lost” Pixar flick.
Harris killed too.
To be fair to Harris, I remember Billy Mumy expressing dissatisfaction with the discussions he had with the producers of that movie about their creative direction.
Mumy does appear in the Netflix reboot series as “Z. Smith”.
Tucker Carlson on what’s going on in Venezuela.
Listen to the quotes in context, not the snippets replayed on Faux News or the Cutie Pie (Hannity) show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pc4xNqa9NM
>>I don’t leave the property without equipment. I’m wondering if I need to stay equipped when working in the yard.
Anytime, everywhere, except in the shower. Never wind up with a bad guy between you and your equipment.
I don’t leave the property without equipment. I’m wondering if I need to stay equipped when working in the yard.
My dad carried his Ruger LCP everywhere he went, even to the bathroom. Something happened after they bought the house in Port Lavaca. The house had sat empty for two years and the high school kids were using it as a party house. Apparently he and Mom were in bed asleep and a group of kids broke in at 2am. He did not shoot any of them but he carried everywhere after that.
He also had a 1911 under the mattress on his side of the bed. I looked for it a couple of days after he passed in July but did not find it. Somebody got it.
Where is John de Lancie as Q?
That’s the most glaring omission. Q bookended the entire series, even if the third season of “Picard” is canon.
Remember, the jury is still out on the Terran race by the Q.
Holding out for more credits?
Holding out for more money. During ST:TNG and the spinoffs, he only got paid the addon rate, a few hundred dollars per day of shooting. For Picard, he demanded and got paid as a full time cast member.
“DOE rules banning sale of non-condensing water heaters and furnaces can stand, court says”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-rules-banning-sale-of-non-condensing-water-heaters-and-furnaces-can-sta/804778/
“Gas industry groups say they’ll challenge the decision. Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project, called the ruling “a triumph for consumers.””
Retrofitting a condensing water heater or a condensing furnace into a house built with non-condensing equipment is non-trivial and expensive. There is no vent, just an acidic water drain dues to the H2S in the natural gas converting to SO2 in the exhaust, then the SO2 converts to weak sulfuric acid in the condensed “water”.
“US installed nearly 26 GW of new generating capacity from January to August”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/us-installed-nearly-26-gw-of-new-generating-capacity-from-january-to-august/804848/
“Solar dominated capacity additions, according to FERC’s monthly report, while a controversial gas pipeline project from New Jersey to New York got a green light.”
Solar is great until covered by snow, frost, or rain water. Or in west Texas, dirt carried by the wind. Of course, at dusk to dawn, solar output is zero.
It’s quiet today. Clear blue sky, 82f. Almost no traffic noise. Only a few airplanes. Enough breeze once in a while to make a wind chime or two tinkle.
It’s quiet enough to hear the buzzards “sing”. They don’t actually sing like a cardinal or a robin, it’s a panting noise. But they seem happy sitting in a tree singing their way and flapping their wings at each other. It’s good.
I heard a couple of robins making noise. Seems early. I saw a painted bunting in the tree that shades the patio. The elm trees are tuning gold. The red oaks near the house are just barely starting to uh, turn red before the leaves fall off. The live oaks, of all kinds, look to be full of acorns. Fat acorns this year, maybe I will try to plant a few.
The cold front seems delayed by a day. That’s fine. A forecast low of 31f is quite possibly going to be 26f here. Depends on the wind.
I vacuumed and dusted, all that Suzy Homemaker stuff today. Toted the various throw rugs outside for a good shaking. It’s looks nice. It didn’t look bad before but somehow it looks better. I can’t say why or how.
I like the new flooring and the way the furniture is arranged. It’s not perfect, never will be perfect. Other folks opinion? They don’t live here, they don’t pay my bills.
Welp. Time for afternoon dog cookies. And a shower for me. Then something for supper, maybe more than a chunk of cheese and a peanut butter sandwich. I don’t know. Then a random movie. And of course supper time for the dogs. And bedtime potty walks….
I’m in a rut, sort of. But it’s not a bad rut.
I’m not spending ten hours a day of my life getting ready for work, driving to work, not particularity liking being there and dealing with stupid people, and driving home. And still having to feed the critters and me. And do all the Suzy Homemaker stuff.
It is a beautiful day today. It really is.
We’re still here. I guess Q thinks we are ok.
I can see how a water heater would be a PITA. Especially if there is no drain pan. But adding a drain pan and running some PVC along the edge of the garage to outside isn’t a horrible task. Set the water heater on some good bricks or some of that plastic decking board stuff so the acid water doesn’t eat the metal.
But a furnace, can’t it use the a/c condensation drain?
I am moving from plastic frame reader glasses to metal reader glasses. Any tightness on my glasses at the temples gives me a migraine, a gift of my first heart attack. So I can permanently bend the metal frames to make the readers very loose.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09CV637VC?tag=ttgnet-20
I am super ready for my left eye surgery on December 2. The whiteouts on my left eye with oncoming cars at night drive me nuts.
When I opened the chicken coop this morning, I saw that the run had been moved again, despite the cinder blocks and the tires on the leeward sides. When it was full light and I checked the run, the tarp, and the coop for damage, I found that the frame of the run was pretty banged up.
The frame consists of poles which fit into brackets with three or four female fittings, all covered with chicken wire. (And a tarp over half of the top.) Almost all of the ground-level brackets have at least one break, with the fitting just flopping loose. The run is still held together by the chicken wire but it’s not really sound and parts of the bottom are kind of sticking up or out because things don’t quite fit together. It’s not a problem with the chickens escaping because they’re not inclined to wiggle their way under a barely-big-enough barrier but skunks and coons can easily get in.
I wish I’d taken the tarp off a few days ago, when the strong winds had started. Or else gone and bought half a dozen more cinder blocks. But if wishes were horses…
The chickens will be moving to their winter quarters once it snows. That’s the space on the patio under the deck – the house is built into a hill, so the deck is about ten feet up. I move the coop in, placing it on the windward side, and make “walls” from netting. I put heavy plastic up on the windward side of the coop, creating a wind shadow. The birds did fine the last two winters – there’s the heated coop, the patio was covered with cardboard and straw, and they’re fat and covered in feathers. I also put a heated perch out to keep their little toesies, but they never used it – didn’t like the color, didn’t like the texture, they’re just superstitious chickens, who knows.
And once the chickens are out of the metal run, I’ll figure out the best way to fix it – weld the brackets, see if the manufacturer sells replacements, duct tape the pipes back onto the brackets, whatever. Hey, it’s not like I had anything else to do with my time, right?
Wizard of Id: Dragon Food
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2025/11/08
Dragons like their food crispy and over cooked. Henry forgot that.
Everyone got hosed on that show. “Cheers” cost more on a per-episode basis than “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.
de Lancie did leverage the success as Q into another run as Eugene Bradford on “Days of our Lives” in the early 90s, and his character’s fate in the show’s storytelling universe is still unresolved.
de Lancie also continues to make guest appearances on the current run of “Star Trek” shows, all of which, including the demise of Q at the end of “Picard” Season Two, has been declared non-canon.
I am really glad to hear you say that, Paul!
Hey, SteveF, suck it up, timezone loser 🙂
Bedtime for me in this timezone – midnight. An eventful day. Our simple trip to pick up a TV turned into quite the unexpected shopping expedition. We ordered a matching pair of sofas for the BOL. I am happy about this, as the provisional sofa is neither comfortable nor aesthetically pleasing. This custom pair will be a much better solution.
Pizza supper on the way home, with tiramisu and espressi. Not awful, though they were stingy with the coffee and alcohol in the dessert.
Our little country village has a new Chinese restaurant/takeaway. That will be the next venue for a gastronomic test. I picked up the takeaway menu for some prior study. The place looked and smelled nice, and there was a goodly number of dining guests who seemed to be enjoying themselves. I would like it to be a success, as Chinese food is one of my favourite treats, and my previous local place near base changed hands and lost my custom after my pal Fat Lee left. Lee was perhaps his own best customer, but he sure could cook.
This a Bach anniversary year – 340 years since his birth. Bavarian Klassik Radio is playing lots of the master’s works, and it is magnificent. Brandenburg concerto no. 4 before bed. Sublime!
Goodnight, all, even SteveF. Look after those pterodactyls, er, chickens 🙂
Q was prominent during the second season of “Picard”, but that run of episodes was weird creatively, as if the writers had other plans at one point, particularly with Jay Karnes signed for two episodes, and location shooting around the 444 building raising fan hopes that Corbin Bernsen’s Q would be putting in an appearance.
Maybe it was the money they spent on de Lancie that forced the change in plans.
The consumer is best served by a gas furnace that is reliable and has the best combination of efficiency and cost. Venting a condensing furnace in new construction is somewhat less expensive, but that savings and the small savings due to higher efficiency is grossly negated by the increased unit cost, increased maintenance cost and the reduced lifetime.
The biggest win for consumers came decades ago when the always-on pilot lights were replaced by piezo-electric ignitors, higher efficiency blower motors, and heat exchangers that were improved from the 60% range to the 80%’s. Inexpensive setback thermostats, retrofitting better insulation and higher insulation standards for new construction reduces heating needs and lowers the operating cost difference due to furnace efficiency
The green weinies are enthralled by parts per trillion in water. I’d like to see indoor atmosphere measurements of parts per trillion H2S and H2SO4. in condensing vs. non-condensing furnace installations.
Objectively incorrect. As noted above, a condensing furnace retrofitted to an older house often requires extensive additional expense to install a totally new horizontal venting system.
Serendipitous bedtime reading. An essay about beauty.
https://pjmedia.com/jamie-wilson/2025/11/06/the-shape-of-joy-how-beauty-once-defined-us-and-can-define-us-again-n4945659
Up from my nap. I am waffling. Easiest to just stay. Eat, read, watch some youtube…
But that pile of stuff should go. It’s at the shop, in the way. On the gripping hand, I don’t have anywhere ready for it at the BOL. If I went up, I’d probably stay Sunday night and come home Monday.
Maybe I’ll call my wife and see what she thinks.
n
People definitely buy because of venting choices. Maybe not because of “condensing or non-condensing”, but definitely because of how and where you put holes in the building.
n
“China and Reality”
https://areaocho.com/china-and-reality/
“Social media is filled with posts showing Chinese cities looking spectacular, and morons claiming this is proof that Socialism works.”
China does not pay things that they use either. I have many users of my software in China and zero payments.
The consumer is best served by a gas furnace that is reliable and has the best combination of efficiency and cost. Venting a condensing furnace in new construction is somewhat less expensive, but that savings and the small savings due to higher efficiency is grossly negated by the increased unit cost, increased maintenance cost and the reduced lifetime.
I had two of the first computer operated water heaters. The first computer lasted two years. The plumber charged me $500 to convert it to an analog system with a pilot light. The second computer failed at five years with the gas valve wide open and managed to cause the tank to split due to overheating.
My advice is do not put computers in your attic next to heat sources. You will be unhappy shortly. I bought two new analog water heaters from a different plumber.
A ‘blended wing’ aircraft – very different look:
(link) to story and more info/links.
“The universe is full of surprises – most of them nasty.”
Solomon Short
With enough power and computers to manage the control, even a brick can fly.
———–
I believe someone said that wrt modern fighter aircraft, but I’m fairly certain it can be applied to all the concepts that didn’t advance from when they were first conceived.
Even modern quad copter based drones are descended from flying platforms in the early years of the Cold War. They just weren’t manageable by the tech of the day.
———-
I decided to stay home and spend tomorrow working on keeping some of my momentum on projects here. Even with a nap, I was still pretty tired and wasn’t looking forward to driving to the BOL, and knew I wouldn’t be starting any projects there in the shortened time on site.
So I had a tiny little fire and read. Finished Cedar Sanderson’s ‘The East Witch’ which is in her Pixie for Hire storyline. I enjoyed it and it is certainly satisfying.
Time now to shower and get to bed.
n
Good morning! Sunday already. A misty morning here, but it looks like the sun will break through.
I have a hankering for banana waffles for breakfast. Hmm. Maybe banana waffles with bacon. Sounds worth getting up for…
Wishing you all a beautiful day.